Friday, December 05, 2008

By popular demand, ABC is releasing some of your favorite songs from General Hospital.

Mirroring the story lines of the Emmy Award-winning daytime drama, these songs are about undying love, heartbreak, lust and loss. Many of the songs have been themes for couples like Jason and Liz, Luke and Tracy, Jax and Carly, and Lulu and Logan. Hearing these songs will take you right back to the excitement and romance your favorite daytime drama brings you each and every day.

Some of the songs (and the characters) include: "Ours to Keep" (Jason and Elizabeth); "So Right" (Luke and Tracy); "Patience" (Jax and Carly); "Something About You" (Lulu and Logan); "Just Close Your Eyes" (Nikolas and Nadine) and "One Thing On My Mind" (Ric and Claudia), among others. Watch for more upcoming releases!

IT'S THE MOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST AS SOAPNET CELEBRATES THE SEASON WITH THREE CLASSIC HOLIDAY EPISODES OF GENERAL HOSPITAL, AIRING DEC. 25 FROM 8 p.m. – 11 p.m.

Holiday Interstitials Hosted by Kirsten Storms and Bradford Anderson

After a long day of presents, eggnog and fruitcake, SOAPnet invites viewers to celebrate the season by relaxing and revisiting the best "General Hospital" Christmas episodes with "The Most of Christmas Past" marathon, airing December 25 from 8P – 11P ET/PT on SOAPnet.

List of Episodes:8PM – General Hospital Episode #1996-8637 (original air date 12/24/96) — Sonny helps out by taking over as a Christmas tree salesman; Jax and Brenda spend the holiday together and Jason shares special Christmas wishes with Lila and Robin.

9PM – General Hospital Episode #1998-9151 (original air date 12/24/98) – Lucky and Liz say they love each other for the first time and then exchange gifts with Nikolas and Emily; Monica asks Edward to play Santa and Alan to read the Christmas story at the hospital party.

10PM – General Hospital Episode #2004-10689 (original air date 12/24/04) – Ric and Alexis are rescued from the woods in time to celebrate Kristina’s Christening with Sonny and Carly; Emily shares Christmas dinner with Nikolas, who’s in jail.

SongVest®, the company that recently reinvented the music memorabilia business by offering the ultimate fan collectable — the songs themselves — has announced their next major online auction with a twist. Beginning on December 17, 2008 and ending at 3 pm EST December 20, 2008.

SongVest presents fans with the incredible opportunity to own a percentage of the writer's share of royalties paid by EMI Music Publishing on the opening theme song to the long-running NBC soap opera, Days of Our Lives. By auctioning off a portion of her share, Caroline Boyce, widow of the song's co-songwriter Tommy Boyce, is giving fans an unprecedented chance to participate in the legacy of one of the most popular TV shows of all time. As SongVest is now adding additional shares with lowered percentages - equaling lower auction reserves for select items - the opportunity is within reach of all fans, and just in time for the holidays.

When Victor left Genoa City earlier this year, his young wife, Sabrina, was dead, his family had betrayed him and he was suspected of murder. Now that he is back in town, it’s business as usual. His nemesis, Jack Abbott, is trying to bring him down yet again; this time with the help of Victor’s son, Adam, and a certain forged diary. Victor has also found love once again; this time with an old flame.

Eric Braeden, who plays ruthless billionaire Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless, is excited about his new story line and anxious to see how Victor is going to handle it all. Regarding Jack’s duplicity, Eric is certain of one thing: “Oh, he’s gonna get it. You know Victor doesn’t leave any stone unturned. Jack is definitely gonna get it.”

When it comes to Adam’s part in the betrayal, according to Eric: “Victor feels an enormous betrayal. But that’s not really his son, not really. Victor was never really a father to him.”

But Victor’s return isn’t without his fair share of baggage. Eric explains: “He is in an emotional hell because of an accumulation of things. The whole thing with Nikki and her getting involved with a guy (David Chow) who Victor suspected from the beginning (as being bad news), and his estrangement from his children — that all started before Sabrina’s death. It was exacerbated by her death. It was one of those critical moments in life, where he essentially wanted to be left alone.

“With Sabrina, there was an enormous, sudden surge of love that he felt with a much younger woman, and it sort of rejuvenated him for a while. She gave him unrestricted love. I think it mesmerized him. The reality of her death had not sunk in yet. He was still very much in love.”

Now, with the help of his rediscovered love for Ashley Abbott, Victor is back, he’s strong and he’s ready to stand up to his accusers. Eric says he is “excited to explore that relationship again. And also for the audience who was used to it. A lot of the audience sort of felt there was unrequited love — it was always sort of there and alluded to, but never really realized. So now, it finally is, hopefully.

“Frankly, I think they missed a chance a few years ago to pick up on that relationship, when she came to him finally and told him how much she loved him and he turned her down, which I think was a mistake at the time, but those were different writers. I think it’s natural for them to find one another again — and at the same time it’s tragic for Nikki. It’s complicated, isn’t it?”

While life has never been without complication for Victor and Nikki, he doubts this antagonism between them will last. “It never has been peaceful between the two of them. But, I don’t think this is a permanent parting of the ways. I certainly hope it isn't. I love working with Mel. But, well, it’s drama.”

During one of Eric’s breaks from the drama of Y&R, he executive produced and starred in the Western drama The Man Who Came Back, which will be released on DVD Tuesday, Dec. 9. In the movie, Eric plays Reese Paxton, a man who stands up against injustice and seeks revenge against those who have wronged him. Catch Part 2 of this interview next week when Eric talks about the movie, the star-studded cast and his chance to get physical and kick some bad-guy butts.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

While officially there is no comment from TPTB, word is that Don Diamont, who has played Brad Carlton since 1985 on The Young and Restless, is leaving. We will give you more information as this story develops.

Time is running out to bid on an All My Children experience generously donated by Susan Lucci to Rosie O’Donnell’s “Rosie’s Gala: Building Dreams for Kids” online auction.

The auction is currently live on charitybuzz.com and proceeds go toward Rosie’s For All Kids Foundation — a non-profit organization dedicated to support the intellectual, social and cultural development of disadvantaged children throughout the United States.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Puerto Rican actress Roselyn Sanchez has gotten married at a historic San Juan fort in front of 250 guests that included Eva Longoria Parker.

Sanchez and actor Eric Winter (ex-Rex, Days of Our Lives) arrived Saturday at the San Cristobal fort in a white Mercedes Benz. Guests also included actor Amaury Nolasco and Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila and his family.

Soap fans were disappointed earlier this month when everyone’s favorite diva, Susan Lucci, was voted off “Dancing With the Stars.” I had the chance to catch up with Susan, and her dance partner, Tony Dovolani, during their stop in Orlando, Fla., for Super Soap Weekend at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Cindy Elavsky: How did the opportunity come about for you to be on “Dancing With the Stars”? It must have been such an honor to be asked, since everyone wants to be on the show.

Susan Lucci: I was thrilled to be asked to be on the show. To be perfectly candid, they had asked me before to be on the show — actually, twice before — and I didn’t think that I could handle working on “All My Children” and flying across country for “DWTS.” I didn’t think I could do it all. And then I saw Cameron (Mathison) handle it so beautifully, and it made me feel like I was a wimp. Plus, I felt like I had missed the opportunity of a lifetime. So, when they came to me this summer and asked me if I would be interested in doing it, I knew I had to do it.

CE: Who else on “AMC” do you think would be a good candidate to participate on “DWTS”?

SL: I think a number of people honestly would. The cast is fantastic. Whoever does, I would just tell him to know that your time to learn the dances is that much shorter (since “AMC” tapes in New York and “DWTS” is based in LA). You don’t get four days. You can’t dance all day and all night. For me, I felt like I would have liked to have had the option to dance more hours a day. Also, this year was the first year they decided to do a team dance, and score us on it. I was not on the same coast as everyone. And we did the cha-cha, which is a syncopated dance, and you need to be together to practice, and I was not on the same coast. Tony and I were in third place after the pasodoble, after our individual dance, but the scores from the team dance brought us down and that’s why we were voted off.

CE: Are you going to keep dancing after all of this?

SL: Oh, I definitely intend to keep on dancing.

Tony Dovolani: Even after the show is done, Susan and I will continue dancing, because I intend to continue teaching her. She deserves to learn ballroom dancing the right way. Where there is no pressure, and she can just learn the art form the way it is supposed to be. She’s the kind of person who ballroom dancing was made for. She embraces it with her entire body and her entire soul, and she should definitely learn every dance there is.

CE: What was your favorite dance to perform together?

TD: I’ve watched them all and by far it’s between the two of them: the pasodoble and the rumba. (To Susan) I thought your rumba was spectacular.

SL: Thank you. Looking back, I love the rumba too.

TD: You looked incredible — you danced, you moved your hips, you were very relaxed. You were completely embracing the dance. Everybody says that the mark of a good dancer is whether they can do a decent rumba. And you didn’t do a decent, you did a great rumba. Rumba exposes people’s flaws. You can always camouflage things, but if you are not as good a dancer, the rumba will expose that. Remember, it’s the kiss of death.

SL: Thank heavens I didn’t know that before we did the dance!

CE: What is something you would like to see Erica Kane do in the future, something she has never done or tried before?

SL: I think Erica Kane needs to learn how to ballroom dance. We’ve seen Tony as an injured handsome man on the show. We need to see him survive, get well after the tornado, and everyone is like, “Who was that man?” It could be like that wonderful movie, “Shall We Dance,” but in reverse. Erica has a very stressful life, we all know this, and it would be fun for her to learn to dance, with Tony teaching her. And Adam and Jack could get all jealous, and it could be a lot of story line there.